A study by the Transportation for America’s Dangerous by Design named the Metro Orlando area the deadliest for pedestrians in the country. On average, one pedestrian is killed every week.
Consequently, collaborative efforts between Bike Walk of Central Florida, local governments, law enforcement, and health groups including Orlando Health and the Winter Park Health Foundation have led the start of the “Best Foot Forward” safety campaign.
The said campaign’s strategies include a combination of three different approaches in order to relieve the issue of unfortunate pedestrian-and-driver accidents: education to the public, engineering, and enforcement. If you live in Orlando, chances are you already have noticed how unsafe or incomplete sidewalks often are. The engineering efforts will focus on building sidewalks and roadways with safer designs or providing more lighting. On the enforcement level, drivers can expect tickets of $164 if caught failing to yield to a pedestrian on a crosswalk.
Bike Walk Central Florida expects the campaign to cost about $350,000 a year. A grant from the Florida Department of Transportation application is in process in hopes of aid for funding. Federal funds of 4 million dollars are already being put to use by adding more sidewalks to the city.
Not surprisingly, the next most dangerous metro areas in the country are also in Florida. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Jacksonville, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach followed Orlando in that order. To view the entire list of rankings, visit http://t4america.org/resources/dangerousbydesign2011/states/worst-metros/.